games – mssv

Keeping Safe on Twitter, Blackstone’s Ratio, and Ways to Support Victims

September 1, 2019

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7–11 minutes

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A lot’s happened since my “Innocent until proven guilty in a court” isn’t the end of the story went viral on Twitter. New and credible allegations of abuse in the games industry have emerged, and the pushback from those who believe all the allegations are lies has been typically fierce. And yes, there has been…
“Innocent until proven guilty in a court” isn’t the end of the story

August 29, 2019

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1–2 minutes

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“Innocent until proven guilty in a court” is, at best, childishly naive and, at worst, dangerously obtuse when it comes to accusations of abuse (which I fully believe) against game devs like @alexiskennedy. Stop saying it. Just 1.5% of rape cases lead to a charge or summons in the UK. The proportion will be even…
Money Illiteracy, Apple Arcade

June 9, 2019

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8–12 minutes

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Issue 6 of my newsletter – subscribe here Since buying a house a couple of years ago, I’ve noticed more and more people talking about overpaying their mortgages, and I find the whole idea mystifying. The mechanics of mortgages were alien to me until recently, and they may well be to you as well. In the…
British Servility, Gamification of Jobs Inside the API

June 5, 2019

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5–8 minutes

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Issue 5 of my newsletter – subscribe here The rise of Conservative MP Rory Stewart has sparked an intense frustration in me. Many people who would never vote for a right-wing party have confessed liking this “British eccentric with preternatural intelligence“, as Hadley Freeman from the Guardian described him. What is it, precisely, that Freeman admires…
90s Hagiography and Half Marathons

May 31, 2019

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5–8 minutes

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Issue 4 of my newsletter – subscribe here Now that millennials are ageing into their status as Prime Consumers of culture, it’s no surprise that our childhood era of the 90s is being mined for nostalgia. Not all of this is cynical – I’m as charmed by games like Hypnospace Outlaw that harken back to the early…
How to Read The New Yorker, my new TV, and the Playdate

May 23, 2019

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6–8 minutes

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Issue 3 of my newsletter – subscribe here The New Yorker is the most consistently well-written longform magazine I’ve read, and it’s been the source of so many of my ideas over the years. It’s also the one of the most unread magazines out there, gracing coffee tables across the world in artistic tsundokus. For the…
The Mapping Problem

May 20, 2019

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6–8 minutes

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2 comments on The Mapping Problem

Issue 2 of my newsletter – subscribe here There’s the book I’d like to write. And there’s the book I ought to write. Last year, someone from Samsung’s strategy team asked to talk to me about whether “gamification” could be a possible use (if not a killer app) for a hypothetical augmented reality heads-up display. I…
Two Bit Circus and the Challenges of Next Generation Arcades

August 26, 2018

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6–8 minutes

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3 comments on Two Bit Circus and the Challenges of Next Generation Arcades

Since the introduction of consumer VR systems like Oculus and Vive, hundreds of VR-centric arcades have opened, hoping to attract punters by offering experiences that they can’t get at home because they can’t afford $1500+ VR setups and don’t have the space or custom equipment (e.g. force-feedback driving seats). Some of these next-generation arcades are…
Gamescom 2018 thoughts: Spider-Man, Starlink, Forza Horizon, Oculus, and more

August 22, 2018

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7–10 minutes

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I managed to play a fair few games here at Gamescom in Cologne in between business meetings. The first day – Tuesday – is solely for “trade visitors” rather than the general public, so the crowds weren’t too bad. That said, people in the games industry tend to like playing games, which meant highly-anticipated titles…
Injured Sovereigns, Foucault, and Jessica Price

July 11, 2018

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10–16 minutes

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5 comments on Injured Sovereigns, Foucault, and Jessica Price

Why does Jessica Price’s firing continue to attract so much attention? There’s plenty of other subjects I want to write about, but there is something about the story that draws me to it, just as it’s drawn literally thousands of people to my Twitter this blog, some of whom have called me “subhuman scum” and…